Yup. It was won by the 20-year-old dancer from Japan. CongratulationRiyo Mori.I feel proud of her since this was the second time a Japanese girl won. The last time Japan won the pageant was in 1959 when Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe from Asia. I was being corrected that there are several of Asian ladies who were being crowned before (India, Philippine, Thailand....) Sorry for the mistake.. ;)

Anyway, I felt that this year, the crowning was a bit unexpectedly... funny... I know you saw it... Here..

I'm so happy....

Oh no...!!!

And sad to see this.... The Miss USA slip...

Anyway, she did a good job. Her reaction was fast, stand up immediately after the fall...To read more, here

29 May 2007

Have your car ever been pulled by a tow truck?How about staying under the hot sun, in the car with no air-condition for an hour?How about starving for hours?

I took this in my car.....

Well, it was..... FUN!!!Ok ok... I lied. It was suck! I felt like I was a roasted fish. ( ikan bakar)

It was all happened in this hot, scorching afternoon when my dad took me along to help him paying the bills. Everything was as smooth as silk when we were on the way paying the bills.

"Dad, can we have a lunch here?", I asked my dad after returning from the post office.

"I think we should go back and have lunch there", my dad replied.

I nodded and soon, we started our journey back home, which will take about 40 minutes.

*Krruuuukkkk**Krrruuuuukkkkkk*

Our car suddenly made a weird noises when we'd just 5 minutes away. Then, it stopped. Cars from the back started to sound their honks. Apparently, it was dangerous to stop the car in such a sudden!

"What happen dad?", I was shocked when our car suddenly stopped.

All I knew then was front tyre problem. Immediately, I urged my dad to call the number which is on the front view mirror. It's the car insurance department telephone number for customer's service.

Anyway, we were lucky because dad has stick on the sticker on the mirror and now, we could use it! After making a call to the agency, they promised will send a man to tow us in 30 minutes to a nearby workshop. We waited for almost 35 minutes in the 32 degree car with no air condition before the man came to rescue us! Thanks God!

To be frank, I felt excited when the truck was giving us a tow. We could get free ride without starting the engine. hehe... And the fun thing was, the car was lifted up when we were moving! Felt like roller-coaster.. :D

We reached the workshop in within half and hour. Soon, my dad and I rushed to a nearby hawker food to nurse our rumbling stomach while the car was being fix.

The car was done within an hour. We were so tired when we reached home and all I knew after that was I slept like a sleeping beauty... (of course, after a nice, cool shower):)

28 May 2007

As I was chatting in MSN this afternoon, suddenly a friend of mine had asked me about the condition of the toilets in China. Gosh! I've almost forgotten this.In my previous post, I'd promised to blog about the thing that I fear the most since the past 6 years. Yup! It was the public toilets in China... Wuuuooo....Let me write it this way:

WARNING!Stop eating when you are reading this page or keep away your foods.Read on your own risks.

Counting down..

TOP 5 - The Worst Toilet!

4th runner-up

I paid RMB 0.20 for this. There was a half size door. (its height just reached at my waist)

3rd runner upIn the village. One of my grandma's relatives toilet. Still ok since there was a door but no light.

2nd runner-up

No charge for this one. No door.. :(

Nearer look. Yiiiieee....

1st runner up

One of the toilet of a restaurant. Don't get chock!

Ewwwhhh! No door, no light and no water system to clean the waste...RUn!!!

Winner!!! (ueekkk... )

In the village..... olden day toilet....

Inside....

Closer view.. Ehw.....I wonder how they do their business... no idea.... :X

Ideal toilet:

In hotel room- Pu Tian... Nicer...

Another toilet in the hotel - Xiamen(much much better)

That's why, I had rather stayed in the hotel rather than going out. haha... ;DI'm sorry if this post has made you feel sick... I think I'll make this a temporary post. Maybe I will delete it later. Why? Because I can't stop thinking of the smell and looks. Sucks! Yucks!Sorry again my friend...

And....Take my advice, go to the city, not small area like these....GIRLS.... It's better to take an umbrella with you. It is always useful. WhY? haha.. I know you can think of the reason.

27 May 2007

I'm tagged by Dalicia!!! It's an education tag from keshi and now Dalicia is tagging me. Thanks my friend...Wow.. about education? Em... here they are....What was the name of the teacher that was most influential in your life from grades K through 6?Mrs Vicky. She has inspired me a lot during my form 6 since it was my hardest time. She keeps encouraging me and motivating me to do better. She did push me to work harder. Thanks my lovely teacher... :)

What subject did you favor in high school?Biology - especially about our body, metabolism, enzyme, DNA, RNA, ecosystem, evolution and microbiology.

Did you attend a university if so, did you attain a degree?Still waiting the government feedback... waiting is painful... sob...

Do you learn best through books, by watching or hands on?Hands on. For example camera (I don't know how to use when I was small) : I have a glance on the the book, watching my dad using it and use it. Without trying it on my hands, I won't learn thing accurately and fast!

Has education been an ongoing process for you?Yup. It has been teaching me since I was small.

How do you feel about that?Education in the classroom is not enough. We should expose ourselves more to the society because classroom and the society are two different things. This is what a real life means.

Taxi Driver:I'll never forget that middle-aged, Chinese taxi driver!I still remember our last trip in Xiamen, China. Before our flight in the afternoon, we decided to make a trip to a nearby park. So, we took a cab. Knowing that we were not the locals, he advised us not to go there.

"Sir, it was a boring place. You just see flowers and lake. Nothing special! How about going to the sea-side and you can see the beautiful view?", the driver was trying to convince us.

Since we knew nothing about the place, we just agreed.

"How long will we get there?", my cousin asked.

"Just 15 minutes", he replied shortly.

25 minutes passed by...... But, we hadn't reached.

"Sir, you said we'll reach there within 15 minutes. But now is almost 30minutes! Where are we going?", my dad finally voiced out. I felt weird because we were going further from the city.

"We'll reach soon", he replied.

We reached there in another 15 minutes. "What? An exhibition hall? Are you kidding? And that is a jetty for goods landing not a tourist spot!!", my cousin started to yell at him in an angry tone. Anyway, he denied it.

Knowing that we were trapped, we said nothing and asked him to send us back. We couldn't effort to spend any more minutes there. Our stomachs were boiling with hearts pumping so fast!!! At the end, we spent RMB 86.20!

So, my friend. Please be careful when you're taking a cab in an unfamiliar place. Be extra careful! Maybe we should get a map and know a place well before taking a cub. You don't wanna be a victim like me, don't you?

25 May 2007

In that 8 days, I'd make my observation about people in China. Firstly, people in the rural area are really poor. They don't own any vehicles accept bicycles or motorcycles. Some even just walk on their feet. Here are some pictures that I'd captured along the journey.

She took 3 children at the same time just by walking...

A man who was pulling a cart. He worked as the road sweeper.

A couple who was on the way back to their home. *sweet*

Took this while I was on the way to Ann Qi (so it is blur).Do you know what it is? PIG!!!

They've been building thousand of temples since the past thousand of years ago and even now, they're still building! I believe that you've seen those photos in my previous posts right? Seriously, you can't find an area without a temple and this is true! I should say that they have a strong belief in God.

Some ladies who are married will make a knot on their hair with some flowers decoration. They make this twice a month ( during in the 2nd and 16th in the Chinese calender).

There is no denying that the Chinese in China is really good in art and they've the skills. We went to a half-building temple when we passed by Hui Ann, to meet my grandma's old friend. Fortunately, I could witness the making of the temple! WOW!!! To our amazement, they curved the wood all by their hands.

He was so concentrating...

They worked as a theme. There are 2 young men who own this skill too. Great!

He made holes on those woods using a manual machine so that it was easier to identify those unwanted places.

Take a peep:

This is one of the art work. Can you see? It is amazing!

As I've said, life in China is not easy. The population in this country is too high. As a result, they hardly get a high paid job. Accept, if they're lucky and are born in rich families, living in the big city like Shanghai and Beijing, their lives can be better than these:

Ladies who work in tea shop. They were grading the tea leaves.

Selling sea-weed beside the ferry terminal. It was so big uhh??

A man who was selling Chinese cake. (Not nice) ;(

They were repairing the fishing net.

Who know ping dong wu lao? A kind of sweet dessert (red packet)

At night... beside the street :

2 in 1 job. He worked as fortune-teller as well as Chinese chess player.

Poor guys, sleeping in a plastic basket while waiting for customers.

For those who have a better life, they can enjoy.....

plucking sea-weed, getting a ride on the ferry....

AND....

Throwing money... haha... (they're tourists)

Almost everyone drink tea in China. No one stay away from tea. They serve their guests with tea too and I love it. Tea is good in washing away those fats oil in our body.

Tia Guan Ying tea

REAL FACE:Here are something that you may never know and I really hate it.

1. Men-they're great smokers. God! I became a victim of 2nd-smoker in that 8 days. Gosh!!! Most of the men smoke and this is their so-called-culture. My grandma's relatives even force my dad to smoke! sigh...

Old

young

2. Gambling is their favourite hobby. You can find them gambling in any corner: home, street, park...temple...

In the park

Beside the temple, playing mahjong....

Even women! Old lady... emm....

3. They're a lot of cheaters! They sold fake items to you. Example: pearl, crystal,gold....

4. Greedy. Example: A woman sold a China map to my mum for RMB40. After the bargain... she just sold RMB 6!!!! OMG.... can you imagine?

So, be cautious when you're planning to visit China. Be wise when you're buying things there. Make sure that you're smart when dealing with them.

24 May 2007

Before posting my China Trip-3, I would like to reply my dear friend's tag from confessing7girl. Sorry for being late.. And you're the 1st person who tagged me!

Rules are:* Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.* People who are tagged need to write posts in their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.* At the end of your post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

22 May 2007

I thought, snapping 1209 pieces of photos (I've counted) will be such a great thing. To be frank, it's pain-taking job! I've spent 3 days and and 2 nights choosing and editing my photos. Sigh.... it's hard man! Anyway, my hard work finally paid off. :DI've done my best and these are those selected photos from my trip. *Hurreayyy!!!*I hope you'll enjoy these photos.Well, this page will take a longer time in loading those photos.. I hope that you'll wait for them.... ;)

4th day - in Hui Ann. Near sea-side area. It's beautiful.

South-sea Guan Ying

Hui Ann lady's culture.

They wear this kind of custom for non-marriage lady. And can you see her hat? She said they keep their make-up equipments such as mirror and comb under the hat. Cool!

Smiling Buddha.. :D

5 th day - Mei Zhou, Putian

It's an small beautiful island. It's famous as a holly place especially among the Taiwanese. Ma Zhu, one of the Chinese God is believed to be born in the island. She's a young girl who know about medicine and good in whether forecast which is essential to the local fishermen. Most of them depended on her prediction. However, she was dead at the age of 28. Because of her great influence, temples are built since then for her as an appreciation for her contribution for the islanders. Todays, Ten of thousand of people visited the temple daily to seek blessing from the Ma Zhu. Wow!

Ma zhu

Ma Zhu's temple

Ma Zhu's temple

They served the Ma Zhu with 100 of different kind of hand-made sea creatures using flour.(as decoration)

I love the red crab. It's so real!

After visiting the Ma Zhu's temples, we went to the sea side and cliff climbing. We needed to climb. Oh...it was tiring.

The singing dragon...

OMG! The previous volcanic rock! This is an active volcano??? RUN!!!

Beautiful...

6th day- Putian

Lao Zhe

7th and 8th days- Xiamen

Xiamen is one of the modernized city in Hokkien. It's much better than Pu Tian- no hons. In Pu Tian, you can't find a peaceful area. Noisy!

This pagoda aged for 800 ++ years..... an ancient pagoda...

Even the trees are old... I love them.

Colourful Flowers!

Pieces

Photo shooting.

We were so lucky. We met 2 pairs of bride and groom at the same time, snapping photos. I think this place is beautiful and romantic. hehe.. I wanna sign up. Can?

About Me

Simplicity is what I'm searching for while adventuring my life to explore and discover. Each discovery will teach me a meaningful lesson that will help me grow. I write to learn more about myself. Currently, I am full time teacher for another 1.5 years and a fellow of Teach For Malaysia.